A Country Diary

THE LAKE DISTRICT: We were looking for snow - not that I ski nowadays but it would be nice, I thought, to see it again and perhaps trudge through some. Living in Kendal we can't see the north and east slopes of the fells where the snow lies so have to drive over Kirkstone Pass to assess the possibilities.

But, disappointingly, there was nothing at the head of Dovedale or Deepdale and only tiny patches around the Grisedale crags. There might be some, I thought, in Savage's Drift on Raise, where we've so often skied so we went up Sheffield Pike to take a close look. This fell, so grievously scarred by abandoned lead-mining operations on its western slopes, is not one of my favourites.

It was the very last of my Lakeland two-thousanders, probably collected up to 30 years after the others. I remember passing Glencoyne Farm on my way down from my first visit to the summit and being kindly invited inside by the farmer - George Wilson, at that time - for afternoon tea in the kitchen. The table was groaning with food, but I mostly recall the wonderful bilberry tart. On our recent visit we went up through the splendid woods on the east side and then, beyond the wall, interestingly past Heron Pike to the summit.

Whatever the failings of Sheffield Pike there was nothing wrong with the view: most of the long length of Ullswater stretched out below and, turning round, the sweep up to the Helvellyn tops. But, Savage's Drift was disappointingly no more than flecked with snow, so we came easily down to Nick Head and then back to Glencoynedale.

The name Sheffield Pike looks strangely foreign to Lakeland, but is believed to be a corruption of Sheep Fell or Sheep Fold. Another curiosity: I could have sworn there used to be a dozen cottages in the remote row of Seldom Seen but, this time, I could only count 11 chimneys.